Road Specific Crew Dialogue LIONEL WHY??

I've been trying to figure this one out as well. Very frustrating. 

It's unfortunate that RS5 uses engine numbers for the radio dispatch communications - Crews and dispatchers would use the train number, not the engine number. 

Also, most steam locomotives (and many 1st generation diesels) were retired long before they would have been equipped with radio, with the technology only available starting in the mid 1940's, and didn't become the norm until into the '70's.

-Jim

It's for sure annoying that it's only on the starter sets and vision line items only. 

Actually, I find it useful at times.  I"m changing the paint on a set of F3's, and since the crew-talk is not road name/number specific, it's not a problem.

@Jim Harrington posted:

It's unfortunate that RS5 uses engine numbers for the radio dispatch communications - Crews and dispatchers would use the train number, not the engine number. 

Don't know where you heard THAT! Going all the way back to the very first radios, I've always heard the number of the road/lead locomotive used. Most railroads did not even have train numbers for their freight trains.

Also, most steam locomotives (and many 1st generation diesels) were retired long before they would have been equipped with radio, with the technology only available starting in the mid 1940's, and didn't become the norm until into the '70's.

-Jim

I'm always a lot more concerned what the prime mover and whistle/horn sounds like in any case.

@Hot Water posted:

 

Don't know where you heard THAT! Going all the way back to the very first radios, I've always heard the number of the road/lead locomotive used. Most railroads did not even have train numbers for their freight trains.

Personal experience, and research.  Historically, many railroads had "symbol freights", with schedules, names, etc... 

Identification for scheduled trains by Train # is SOP on Metro-North,  and other carriers on their rails, including CSX, Amtrak...

Part of NS current operating rules...

If not a scheduled train, then other exceptions apply, i.e. locomotive number on a work extra, yard job, mobile unit/hi-rail etc...

-Jim

The crew talk sounds in my Santa Fe Legacy T1-b Berkshire are real cute. All the crew talk voices have a thick Northeast/New England accent. I guess the Boston and Maine sent crews to the ATSF along with the locomotives. 

@WBC posted:

The crew talk sounds in my Santa Fe Legacy T1-b Berkshire are real cute. All the crew talk voices have a thick Northeast/New England accent. I guess the Boston and Maine sent crews to the ATSF along with the locomotives. 

They sent crews out west to the WP too;  my scale Mikado has the Noo Yawk accent.

I think I liked the old garbled radio chatter from the earlier Lionel products better than any of the new ones. being a retired railroader I find most of what they put in these sound files just dose not make any sense or is just plain wrong. With a little thought and maybe listening to some actual transmissions on a scanner I think they could improve it 100%. 

@Jim Harrington posted:

Personal experience, and research.  Historically, many railroads had "symbol freights", with schedules, names, etc... 

Identification for scheduled trains by Train # is SOP on Metro-North,  and other carriers on their rails, including CSX, Amtrak...

Part of NS current operating rules...

If not a scheduled train, then other exceptions apply, i.e. locomotive number on a work extra, yard job, mobile unit/hi-rail etc...

-Jim

Well, that sure isn't the way it is done out west on the BNSF nor the UP.

@Jim Harrington posted:

Personal experience, and research.  Historically, many railroads had "symbol freights", with schedules, names, etc... 

Identification for scheduled trains by Train # is SOP on Metro-North,  and other carriers on their rails, including CSX, Amtrak...

Part of NS current operating rules...

If not a scheduled train, then other exceptions apply, i.e. locomotive number on a work extra, yard job, mobile unit/hi-rail etc...

-Jim

I have never heard a dispatcher use anything but the ENGINE number when calling a crew on the radio. What you might read in a book doesn’t always match what actually happens in the real world.

Rich, out here in Indiana on the Lake Division of the NS, trains all have numbers, evens are east bound, odds are west bound trains.  Sometimes the lead unit number is used by the crew in switching moves but 9 times out of 10, dispatcher calls the train by its symbol, such as NS255, which was one of the Roadrailer trains.  its counterpart would be NS254.  They have others like L82, D93 ect.   Back in the Conrail days, you had trains such as ELIN(Elkhart to Indianapolis), its counterpart was INEL.  So its very road specific and even division/dispatcher specific at times.  Many times, extra trains would use the lead unit number, using my favorite 2343 diesels for example, dispatcher would call Extra 2343 east(or west/north/south depending on direction).  I both railfanned the NS in my area of Indiana for years(still do) and worked for them for awhile as a conductor.    AD

I moved from Marx wind-ups to electric trains, a Lionel Lines 027 set, for Christmas 1951.  Santa Claus also brought me a phonograph and a recording that played station calls as well as train sounds.  I'd play the record while running my train which put me in the engineer's set of that 2-4-2 which made me King of the Railroad for sure!

Don't remember much about the recording other than the staion master's announcement at the beginning... "Pennsylvania station..." followed by the sound of a steam locomotive departing the station at the end of the announcement.  It wasn't high tech sound by any means, but it helped me make up my mind on that long ago 1951 Christmas morning , I wanted to go to work for the railroad when I grew up no matter what.  By golly, I did too!

I used to care but like GRJ, if I change something up now there are no worries about incorrect numbers etc.